Latest news with #KatherineWells
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
US measles cases reach 33-year high with active outbreaks in 14 states
The United States is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades. The national case count reached 1,288 on Wednesday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though public health experts say the true figure may be higher. The CDC's count is 14 infections higher than 2019, when the US almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness – something that could happen this year if the virus spreads without stopping for 12 months. But the US is still far from 1991, when there were 9,643 confirmed cases. In a short statement, the federal government said that the CDC 'continues to recommend (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines as the best way to protect against measles'. Related Measles in Europe: Where are cases of one of the world's most contagious diseases on the rise? It also said it is 'supporting community efforts' to tamp down ongoing outbreaks as requested. Fourteen states have active outbreaks; four other states' outbreaks have ended. The largest outbreak started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died – two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico – and dozens of people have been hospitalized across the US. 'What concerned me early on in this outbreak was is it spreading to other parts of the United States, and that's definitely what's happening now,' said Katherine Wells, the public health director from Lubbock County in Texas. Related Romania's measles crisis: What's driving Europe's biggest outbreak? In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC said measles had been eliminated from the US. But continuing vaccine hesitancy could threaten that status. 'What we're seeing with measles is a little bit of a 'canary in a coal mine,'' said Lauren Gardner, leader of Johns Hopkins University's independent measles and COVID-19 tracking databases. 'It's indicative of a problem that we know exists with vaccination attitudes in this county and just, I think, likely to get worse'.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Measles really is an airplane ride away': experts warn of outbreak amid summer travel
The US is in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in 33 years, according to figures released this week. Driven by an outbreak in Texas, the US has now seen more measles cases in 2025 than in any year since 1992. Experts said they expect the growth in measles cases to continue, spurred on in part by the summer travel season. The best way to prevent measles is to be vaccinated against the disease. 'Given this is summer and more people are traveling all over the US and abroad, this will increase the spread of measles,' pediatric infectious disease expert at Northwestern University, Dr Tina Tan, said in a statement. 'People need to ensure that they, their children and their families are all up to date on their measles and other vaccines as this is the best way to protect and prevent persons from getting sick with measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.' The highly effective measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine has kept the disease at bay for decades. However, experts warn the US may be entering a 'post-herd immunity' era after the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted routine childhood immunization visits, supercharged the reach of anti-vaccine groups and saw the rise of a wellness influencer culture. 'Measles really is an airplane ride away. It's a car ride away. The reason we haven't had it for 20 years is because of the high vaccination rates,' Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock, Texas, told Stat News. 'And as soon as we start seeing that drop again, we have more vulnerable people, and that gives measles places to spread.' Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine. It causes a characteristic top-down rash, runny nose, high fever and red, puffy eyes. Although most people recover from the disease, it hospitalizes as many as one in five and causes pneumonia in one in 20 children, according to the CDC. It can also cause serious complications, including brain swelling leading to permanent disability in one in 1,000 children and death in 1-3 in 1,000 children. Health officials have reported 1,297 confirmed cases of measles in 2025, according to a dashboard from the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Outbreak Response Innovation on Friday. The figures are slightly higher than those reported by federal health authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reported 1,288 cases, but last updated their tally on Wednesday. Both of those figures exceed the 1,274 cases reported in all of 2019. The next highest recent year was 1992, when 2,126 cases were reported. Importantly, that was before the US reached measles elimination status in 2000. Three people have died in the 2025 outbreak, including two unvaccinated but otherwise healthy children in Texas, and one unvaccinated adult in New Mexico, according to state health authorities. North Dakota is just one example of how difficult it has been for states to prevent measles cases. The state had just hit the 42-day milestone without any new cases – a federally set limit to declare the end to an outbreak – when an unvaccinated person traveled out of state and contracted the disease, according to the InForum, a local news outlet in North Dakota. The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, one of the world's best-known vaccine skeptics, has also disrupted US vaccine policy and spread inflammatory information about the MMR vaccine. In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of a vaccine advisory panel that is a key link in the distribution pipeline, and stacked the committee with seven ideological allies. The group declared in its first meeting that it would review the schedule of childhood vaccines and review older vaccines. Kennedy's changes to federal vaccine policy are now the subject of a lawsuit by a pregnant physician who was denied a Covid-19 vaccine. Kennedy unilaterally declared Covid-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy pregnant women, despite many studies showing they are at higher risk.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Measles really is an airplane ride away': experts warn of outbreak amid summer travel
The US is in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in 33 years, according to figures released this week. Driven by an outbreak in Texas, the US has now seen more measles cases in 2025 than in any year since 1992. Experts said they expect the growth in measles cases to continue, spurred on in part by the summer travel season. The best way to prevent measles is to be vaccinated against the disease. 'Given this is summer and more people are traveling all over the U.S. and abroad, this will increase the spread of measles,' pediatric infectious disease expert at Northwestern University, Dr Tina Tan, said in a statement. 'People need to ensure that they, their children and their families are all up to date on their measles and other vaccines as this is the best way to protect and prevent persons from getting sick with measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases.' The highly effective measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine has kept the disease at bay for decades. However, experts warn the US may be entering a 'post-herd immunity' era after the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted routine childhood immunization visits, supercharged the reach of anti-vaccine groups and saw the rise of a wellness influencer culture. 'Measles really is an airplane ride away. It's a car ride away. The reason we haven't had it for 20 years is because of the high vaccination rates,' Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock, Texas, told STAT News. 'And as soon as we start seeing that drop again, we have more vulnerable people, and that gives measles places to spread.' Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine. It causes a characteristic top-down rash, runny nose, high fever and red, puffy eyes. Although most people recover from the disease, it hospitalizes as many as one in five and causes pneumonia in one in 20 children, according to the CDC. It can also cause serious complications, including brain swelling leading to permanent disability in one in 1,000 children and death in 1-3 in 1,000 children. Health officials have reported 1,297 confirmed cases of measles in 2025, according to a dashboard from the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Outbreak Response Innovation on Friday. The figures are slightly higher than those reported by federal health authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reported 1,288 cases, but last updated their tally on Wednesday. Both of those figures exceed the 1,274 cases reported in all of 2019. The next highest recent year was 1992, when 2,126 cases were reported. Importantly, that was before the US reached measles elimination status in 2000. Three people have died in the 2025 outbreak, including two unvaccinated but otherwise healthy children in Texas, and one unvaccinated adult in New Mexico, according to state health authorities. North Dakota is just one example of how difficult it has been for states to prevent measles cases. The state had just hit the 42-day milestone without any new cases – a federally set limit to declare the end to an outbreak – when an unvaccinated person traveled out of state and contracted the disease, according to the InForum, a local news outlet in North Dakota. Health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, one of the world's best known vaccine skeptics, has also disrupted US vaccine policy and spread inflammatory information about the MMR vaccine. In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of a vaccine advisory panel that is a key link in the distribution pipeline, and stacked the committee with seven ideological allies. The group declared in its first meeting that it would review the schedule of childhood vaccines and review older vaccines. Kennedy's changes to federal vaccine policy are now the subject of a lawsuit by a pregnant physician who was denied a Covid-19 vaccine. Kennedy unilaterally declared Covid-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy pregnant women, in spite of many studies showing they are at higher risk.
NDTV
10-07-2025
- Health
- NDTV
The US Is Having Its Worst Year For Measles In More Than Three Decades
The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades, and the year is only half over. The national case count reached 1,288 on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though public health experts say the true figure may be higher. The CDC's count is 14 more than 2019, when America almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness - something that could happen this year if the virus spreads without stopping for 12 months. But the U.S. is far from 1991, when there were 9,643 confirmed cases. In a statement, the federal government said the CDC "continues to recommend (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines as the best way to protect against measles." It also said it is "supporting community efforts" to tamp down ongoing outbreaks as requested, among taking other measures. CDC teams deployed for an on-the-ground outbreak response twice in Texas, and also helped New Mexico and Kansas with their outbreaks. Fourteen states have active outbreaks; four other states' outbreaks have ended. The largest outbreak started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died - two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico - and dozens of people have been hospitalized across the U.S. But there are signs that transmission is slowing, especially in Texas. Lubbock County's hospitals treated most of the sickest patients in the region, but the county hasn't seen a new case in 50 days, public health director Katherine Wells said. "What concerned me early on in this outbreak was is it spreading to other parts of the United States, and that's definitely what's happening now," she said. In 2000, the World Health Organization and CDC said measles had been eliminated from the U.S. The closer a disease gets to eradication, the harder it can seem to stamp it out, said Dr. Jonathan Temte, a family physician in Wisconsin who helped certify that distinction 25 years ago. It's hard to see measles cases break records despite the widespread availability of a vaccine, he added. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and is 97% effective at preventing measles after two doses. "When we have tools that can be really helpful and see that they're discarded for no good reason, it's met with a little bit of melancholy on our part," Temte said of public health officials and primary care providers. Wells said she is concerned about continuing vaccine hesitancy. A recent study found childhood vaccination rates against measles fell after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data, including in states that are battling outbreaks this year. And CDC data showed that only 92.7% of kindergarteners in the U.S. had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the 2023-2024 school year, below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks. State and federal leaders have for years kept funding stagnant for local public health departments' vaccination programs that are tasked with reversing the trend. Wells said she talks with local public health leaders nationwide about how to prepare for an outbreak, but also says the system needs more investment. "What we're seeing with measles is a little bit of a 'canary in a coal mine,'" said Lauren Gardner, leader of Johns Hopkins University's independent measles and COVID-19 tracking databases. "It's indicative of a problem that we know exists with vaccination attitudes in this county and just, I think, likely to get worse." Currently, North America has three other major measles outbreaks: 2,966 cases in Chihuahua state, Mexico, 2,223 cases in Ontario, Canada and 1,246 in Alberta, Canada. The Ontario, Chihuahua and Texas outbreaks stem from large Mennonite communities in the regions. Mennonite churches do not formally discourage vaccination, though more conservative Mennonite communities historically have low vaccination rates and a distrust of government. In 2019, the CDC identified 22 outbreaks with the largest in two separate clusters in New York - 412 in New York state and 702 in New York City. These were linked because measles was spreading through close-knit Orthodox Jewish communities, the CDC said.
Euronews
10-07-2025
- Health
- Euronews
US measles cases reach 33-year high
The United States is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades. The national case count reached 1,288 on Wednesday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though public health experts say the true figure may be higher. The CDC's count is 14 infections higher than 2019, when the US almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness – something that could happen this year if the virus spreads without stopping for 12 months. But the US is still far from 1991, when there were 9,643 confirmed cases. In a short statement, the federal government said that the CDC 'continues to recommend (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines as the best way to protect against measles'. It also said it is 'supporting community efforts' to tamp down ongoing outbreaks as requested. Fourteen states have active outbreaks; four other states' outbreaks have ended. The largest outbreak started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died – two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico – and dozens of people have been hospitalized across the US. 'What concerned me early on in this outbreak was is it spreading to other parts of the United States, and that's definitely what's happening now,' said Katherine Wells, the public health director from Lubbock County in Texas. In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC said measles had been eliminated from the US. But continuing vaccine hesitancy could threaten that status. 'What we're seeing with measles is a little bit of a 'canary in a coal mine,'' said Lauren Gardner, leader of Johns Hopkins University's independent measles and COVID-19 tracking databases. 'It's indicative of a problem that we know exists with vaccination attitudes in this county and just, I think, likely to get worse'.
